Method and device for grinding spring needle pressers



May 27 1924.

G. P. BOSWORTH METHOD AND DEVICE FOR GRINDING SPRING NEEDLE PRESSERS Original Fild April 30 1.919

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Patented May 27, 1924.

GEORGE P. BOSWORTH, OF CENTRAL FALLS, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO HEMPHILL COMPANY, OF CENTRAL FALLS, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF MASSA- CHUSETTS.

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR GRINDING SPRING NEEDLE PRESSERS.

I Original application filed April 30, 1919, Serial No. 299,972. Divided and this application filed October 1'7, 1919. Serial No. 331,274. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE P. BOSWORTH,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Central Falls, in the county of 5 Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented an Improvement in Methods and Devices for Grinding Spring NeedlePress' ers, of which the following description, in

connection with the accompanying drawings is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts. I

This invention relates to the method .of and devices for forming spring needle pressers whereby said pressers may be quickly and accurately produced with substantial uniformity and in large numbers. This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 299,972 filed April 30, 1919.

In order that the principles of the invention may be readily understood I have disclosed certain embodiments thereof in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig; 1 is an enlarged elevation of means for holding a group of pressers during the grinding operations;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 illustrating one method of applying the grinding instrument to the surfaces to be ground;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation greatly enlarged of a presser of one type capable of being contained within the holder embodying this invention;

Fig. 4 is a detail view illustrating another form of grinder that may be used in grinding the needle beard engaging surfaces of the pressers;

Fig. 5 is a detail section of one side of the 40 inner shell for holding the pressers and il lustrating the groove for the spring band; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of one of the pressers with a needle beard engaging the pressing surface thereof;

Although the present invention is applicable to various types of individual pressers,I have elected, merely for convenience, to show the same in connection with the presser disclosed in my Patent No. 1,209,256

dated Dec. 19, 1916.

This type of presser, as most clearly shown in Fig. 3, embodies a head portion 1 of slightly greater thickness than the knitting needle 2 with which it is to cooperate. This head 1 has a, beard-engaging surface 3 adapted at certain times in the knitting operations, and by means of a suitable presser cam not shown, to be moved into a pos tion to engage the beard 4 of the needle during the loop-forming movement thereof 1n order to press said beard into the needle eye 5.

The upper portion of the head 1 of said presser is inclined or beveled at 6 suificiently to prevent the end of the beard 4 from butting against the upper end of said presser during said loop-forming movement and to effect the deflection of the beard 4 thereof into its eye at a time when said presser has been moved by said presser cam into its beard-engaging position, as shown most clearly in Fig. 3.

The type of presser shown herein has a relatively thin depending stem portion 7 adapted to fit into a corresponding slot formed in the outer face of a suitable retaining or assembling ring, not shown and into which ring the desired number of press- 'ers are placed at suitable distances apart.

The stem 7 of the presser has a notch 11 in its rear edge to receive a suitable retaining device such for instance as a spring band of the type well known to those skilled in the art and not shown herein, said band being for the purpose of preventing longitudinal movement of said pressers relatively to said ring.

The present invention appertains more particularly to devices for grinding the surfaces 3 and 6 of said pressers and in such a manner that said surfaces will accurately guide the beards 4 of the needles during the,

stitch forming operations without lateral deflection, into the eyes of the needles, see Fig. 6. To accomplish such a result the sur faces or ed es 3 and 6 are slightly concaved longitudina 1y of the presser, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6. The method herein employed for forming the concavity in said beardengaging edges, involves the arranging of individual pressers in a circle so that the sides of the heads thereof substantially touch one another, and with the edges to be ground turned inward, the radius of said circle, as determ ned by said edges, varying tion.

according to the degree of concavity desired, butbeing slightly less than the radius of the concavity to be formed in said pressers. To maintain said pressers in such relation, I proyide a holder for the pressers as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and herein consisting of a central presser containing member 12 having an arbor 13 of suitable size to be held in the chuck of a lathe or any other suitable machine, whereby a rotary movement may be imparted to said central member. This member, also embodies a cylindrical shell 14 having formed in its outer cylindrical face a series of longitudinal slots or grooves 15 within which the stems 7 of the pressers are adapted to fit.

The grooves 15 extend to the end 16 of the shell 14:, and it is at these ends of sa d grooves that the stems 7 of the pressers 1 are inserteduntil shoulders 7 formed in.

the forward edges of said pressers engage the end 16 of said shell and properly align the heads of said pressers. The shell 14 also has an annular groove 14' formed in the outer surface thereof in a position substantially aligning with the notches 11 in said pressers, said annular groove containing a spring band 17 provided for the purpose of retaining the pressers within them respective grooves during the assembling operations.

As shown in Fig. 3 the lower end of the stem 7 of each presser is made tapering, 1t being beveled both at the front and back edges thereof, the front bevel being especially provided for the purpose of allowlng a slight rocking movement of the presser to be effected in its retaining ring by the presser cams during the movement thereof from their inactive to their pressing POSI- The back beveled surface which extends from the lower end of the stem 7 to the notch 11 is merely for the purpose of facilitating the assembling of the pressers in said ring, but by reason of the taperin end of the stem 7 the insertion of sea pressers in the grooves 15 from the end 16 of said holder and past the spring band 17, will likewise be greatly facilitated.

Having completed the assembling in sald shell 14 of the pressers that are to be ground, said pressers may be and preferably are secured in the desired position, 1n the present instance by a collar 18 arranged to fit over the shell 14 0f the holder and to be secured in position thereon by means such as internal screw threads 19 engaging corresponding threads 20 upon the periphery of the central member 12 at the base of the shell 14.

To limit the longitudinal movement of the collar 18 and to assist in firmlysecuring the pressers within'the holder, an internal annular shoulder 21 is formed at the opposite end of the collar from said screw threads 19 to engage shoulders 22 formed on the pressers 1 by recessing the heads of said pressers to provide sufiicient space for the presser cams of the knitting machine. The interior of the collar 18 adjacent to said shoulder 21 at 23 is substantially cylindrical and this surface is adapted to engage outer straight edges 24 of said pressers and thereby assist in positively and firmly holding the same in their fully contracted positions, that is with the sides of the head portions thereof substantially in close contact one with another. The internal face 25 of the annular shoulder 21 is likewise arranged to engage the presser-cam engaging edges 26 of said pressers when said collar is secured by the screw threads 19 and 20 to the inner member of the holder, providing suitable backing for the heads of the pressers during the grinding operation.

The assembling of the pressers in the older being nowcomplete a rotary motion may be imparted to said holder and a finishing member 27 of suitable form such for example as'herein shown embodying a cylindrical, rotary grinder preferably substantially smaller in diameter than the diameter of the circle formed by the beard-engaging edges of the pressers contained in said holder, is moved axially toward said pressers into contact .with said edges to effect the grinding first of the portions corresponding to the surface 3 of the presser shown in Fig. 3. The grinder 27 may be constructed of any suitable material such as emery, or similar substances, and this grinder is preferably mounted upon a suitable arbor 28 to rotate about an axis normally disposed substantially parallel with the axis of the arbor 13 of said holder.

lhe insertion of the grinder 27 into the open end of the series of pressers continues until the entire depth of the cylinder formed by the surface 3 has been ground, said edges being ground transversely of the pressers by reason of the position ofsaid grinder 27 with respect to the axis of said holder. lhe grinder 27 may be and preferably is rotated as well as the holder, and in an opposite direction thereto, thus greatly facilitating the operation.

Having completed the formation of the concave surfaces 3, the inclined beard-en-j collar 18 and withdrawing the pressers from the grooves of the shell 11.

Although I have described the grinding of the edges 3 as taking place prior to the grinding of the surfaces 6, it will be obvious that within the scope and purpose of the invention said surfaces 6 may be ground first and the edges 3 last.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated a grinder 29 mounted upon an arbor 30 having a grinding surface 31 so shaped as to effect the grinding simultaneously of the surfaces 3 and 6 of the pressers, and by means of a singlemovement of said grinder longitudinally or transversely of the arbor 30, thereby dispensing with the rocking of said grinder during the formation of the inclined surface 60f the presser.

The result of the operations hereinbefore described is to produce an individual needle beard presser having a transversely ground beard-engaging surface or surfaces which are concaved the desired amount to properly guide the beards of the needles duringthe vertical knitting movements thereof, said concaved surface or surfaces extending longitudinally of the head portion of said presser, so that when said pressers are mounted in spaced relation within the knitting machine in the usual assembling ring, the said surfaces 3 and 6 of the series of pressers will be uniformly spaced with relation to the axis of said ring, and the con cavities in the inner edges thereof will be suflicient to properly guide 'the beards during their knitting movements and prevent lateral deflection thereof.

While I have herein shown and described for illustrative purposes certain embodiments of my invention, and have disclosed and described in detail the construction and arrangement incidental to such disclosures, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is limited neither to the mere details or relative arrangement of parts, nor to the specific applications shown, but that numerous substitutions and alterations may be made without departing from the principles thereof.

Claims:

1. A holder for needle beard pressers having a cylindrical member provided with a series of longitudinal presser-containing grooves formed in the exterior face thereof and open at one end of said cylindrical member, and means to positively secure pressers in said grooves with the heads thereof protruding from the open ends of said grooves and with their inner work faces exposed and their lateral faces respectively substantially touching, whereby a grinder member may act upon said inner work faces as a continuous surface.

2. A holder for needle beard pressers having a presser container having inner surfaces adapted definitely to position a. ser es of pressers with the inner Working faces thereof exposed and forming an uninterrupted circle of predetermined diameter composed of said pressers with their lateral faces respectively substantially touching, and a collar adapted to encircle said container and positively secure said pressers therein.

3. A holder for needle beard pressers having a grooved presser container adapted to maintain pressers with the working faces thereof forming a circle, a collar to positively maintain said pressers within said grooves, and means in part on said collar and in part on said container to positively prevent longitudinal movement of said pressers relatively to said container.

4. A holder for needle beard pressers having a grooved presser container adapted I a collar'to encircle and positively maintain said pressers within said grooves, means on said collar and said container to positively prevent longitudinal movement of said pressers relatively to said container, and means to effect a longitudinal clamping movement of said collar upon said container.

6. A holder for needle beard pressers having a cylindrical member provided with longitudinal, external grooves for positioning pressers with the working edges thereof formin a circle, said member also having a circum erent al groove formed in 1ts periphery, a spring band arranged in said groove to temporarily hold pressers in said presser-positioning grooves during assembling, and means to positively securesaid pressers in said ooves during grinding.

7. A holder or needle beard pressers having a cylindrical member provided with a series. of longitudinal presser-receivin grooves formed in the exterior face thereo and open at one end of said cylindrical member to permit the protrusion of .the presser heads, means to positively secure pressers in said grooves with the heads thereof protruding from the open ends-of said grooves with the inner faces of said heads exposed and substantially touching at their respective lateral faces and a coaxially disposed arbor arranged at the opposite end of said cylindrical member from said protruding pressers.

8. A holder for needle beard 'ressers having an inner member provide with longitudinal presser-receiving grooves formed in the exterior face thereof and opening at one end from which open end the heads of said pressers protrude to expose the inner working surfaces thereof, and an outer member mounted upon said inner member encircling said pressers and provided with surfaces to engage the outer edges of the heads and the portions of said pressers lying within said grooves to provide backing for said pressers during the operations thereupon.

9. A holder for needle beard pressers having a presser container provided upon its outer surface with the circumferential series of presser receiving grooves, and a col-- lar adapted to be removably secured upon the outer surface of the container and to constitute an unyielding backing for the pressers when a grinding member is applied to the inner faces thereof.

10. A holder for needle beard pressers having a cylindrical shelllike container adapted to be rotated, said container having upon its outer surface a circular series of grooves for the reception of needle beard pressers whose inner faces are to' be ground, and a removable cylindrical 'melnber adapted to be applied to the outer surface of said container to hold the pressers in said grooves and to constitute an unyielding backing during the grinding of the inner {laces of said pressers by a grinding mem- 11. A holder for needle-beard pressers consisting of a cylindrical shell-like container having an axial arbor and exterior presserreceiving grooves from the ends of which said pressers may protrude with their inner faces exposed and a collar adapted to be removably secured upon said container and extending beyond the end of the container, to constitute an unyielding backin for the pressers during the grinding of t eir inner faces.

mamas 12. A holder for needle beard pressers having a presser container, means for yieldingly holding said pressers in said container with their heads forming a relatively distended circle during the assembling of the pressers and means for contracting said circle and rigidly holding said pressers in said container with their working faces presenting an inner exposed continuous circular surface for grinding.

13. The method of forming in one operation like concave surfaces on a multiplicity of articles having fiat lateral faces which consists in assembling said articles in a circle, the radius of which is that of the curve of said surfaces with the edges of the surfaces to be formed in immediate contact, and causing a relative rotary motion of a grinder and said surfaces concentric to said circle.

14. The method of forming in one operation' like concave surfaces on a multiplicity of articles having flat lateral faces which consists in assembling said articles in a 'circle, the radius of which is that of the curve of said surfaces with the edges of the surfaces to be formed in immediate contact, and causing a rotary motion of said articles about a grinder concentric to said circle.

15. The method of forming in one operation like concave surfaces on a multiplicity of metallic pressers for spring beard knitting needles, which pressers have fiat lateral faces, consisting in assembling said metallic pressers in a circle, the radius whereof is that of the curve of said pressers with the edges of the surfaces to be formed in immediate contact, and causing a relative rotary motion of a grinder and said multiplicity of pressers, concentric to said circle.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE 1P. BOSWORTH. 

